David Copperfield relates the history of his life from his birth to adulthood. We follow him through his childhood and school years, his romantic attachments, his professional career, and his family connections. David begins life with his affectionate mother and his loyal nurse, Peggoty. But a new person enters David's life and destroys their happiness. David has many troubles and challenges before he meets with his aunt, Betsy Trotwood, who takes him under her wing to be educated. David's life is populated with heroes and villains, each with unique personalities. As their drama unfolds, David stands at the center of it all.

This book is my absolute favorite of Dickens' work! I love it through and through!! There are so many layers to the story, and it is fascinating to see how each thread of the story comes together. The characters are all connected to each other through David himself, and their relationship to him changes over time.

The plot takes a lot of twists and turns over time. Sometimes we can see hints of the storyline for a particular character and follow that progression, and other times it is a complete shock when some new catastrophe or death or chance encounter brings turmoil and grief for the characters.

Although there are a lot of characters moving and operating in different spheres, every little thread comes back around in the end for a very satisfactory ending. Each character's storyline is brought to a conclusion. Even the tiniest minor plotline has a resolution.

I love all the characters! Mr. Micawber is funny and dramatic, but also very loyal and honest. Betsy Trotwood is bizarre but has her own brand of wisdom. Tommy Traddles is adorable and kind. Steerforth is enigmatic and charming. Little Emily and Mr Peggoty and Ham comprise a sweet family of simple fisher folk, but with untold depths of goodness and courage. And of course the beautiful long-suffering Agnes is like an angel blessing David's life.

Uriah Heep is probably one of the worst villains in all of Dickens' work. He pretends to be ever so "humble" but he is secretly plotting evil in the background. The description of him is so oily and slimy and creepy. He just grosses me out! Dickens really did have a genius for writing the most disgustingly horrible villains.

One of the things I love about this story is that the characters come from many different classes of life and different levels of education. David is happy to be friends with all sorts of people, whether rich or poor, so we get to explore the relationships of people from all kinds of different settings. I really love that David is very accepting and appreciative of the good qualities of people no matter their class status.

David Copperfield is well-known for being "semi-autobiographical" of Dickens' own life. Like David, Charles Dickens was sent out to work in a factory when he was young. Like Mr. Micawber, his father was always being sent to debtors prison. And David becomes an author of fiction, just like Dickens. And David is somewhat dissatisfied in his romances, as Dickens was with his wife.

Dickens' writing is always genius, but perhaps that connection to his own real life made this particular story more vibrant than some of his other novels.